Post surgical care instructions are essential in ensuring that your hair transplant is a success. Do not believe that once your doctor has completed the surgery, then you can resume your normal daily routines like nothing has happened before. You have spent a lot of money to invest in the procedure, it is important that you follow good and proper post surgical care instructions so that your investment will reap the rewards you have been hoping for.

Below are instructions provided by courtesy of Reviva Clinic in India. Please note that these instructions are specific to Reviva Clinic patients only. Do not follow the care guidelines below unless you are one of Dr. Sohi's patients at Reviva Clinic.

Immediately post operative and for the next few nights thereafter, you are advised to sleep with your head elevated on pillows. Medication is given for sleep and pain but you are not required to use them. Use the pain medications only when necessary. Many patients manage to do without using any of the pain medications after surgery.

The morning after your hair transplant surgery, you will remove the head bandages and shower and shampoo your scalp once – just for the first day. A representative from Reviva Clinic will give the patient a courtesy call the next day to check up on the progress and make sure that everything is alright with the patient.

For the remainder of the week, you should shower once a day. When taking your shower, you can gently clean the transplanted area with a special shampoo that will be provided by Reviva Clinic or you may be given instructions as to where you can purchase the shampoo.

If you follow the proper care and instructions post op, the follicular unit grafts are usually secure enough to stay in the recipient sites and will not be dislodged even during your shower.

The bandages are required only for the first evening. After taking your shower and gentle shampoo, you are not longer required to put on the bandages.

Provided that you are very gentle with the process, normal shampooing, light brushing and gentle grooming can resume after two weeks. Usually by the 2nd week after your surgery, the grafts are firmly in place already. You can also have a haircut when you are already 2 weeks post op, however you may still want to remind your barber or hairdresser to be gentle with the scissors or comb when they are giving you a haircut. You are able to dye your hair, if you choose, four weeks after the hair transplant. You should avoid alcohol for three days following your hair transplant procedure and abstain from smoking for two weeks. When you go outdoor and expose to direct sunlight, you should wear a hat as the sun can be very damaging to your scalp tissue and affect the growth of your grafts. Where possible, you may also want to consider using a sunscreen with a SPF of 30+.

Most normal routine can be resumed soon after your surgery but you must exercise precaution and avoid doing anything strenuous that may disturb the grafts. For example, you may start a limited exercise routine in the first week. You should avoid strenuous exercise for several weeks following hair restoration surgery, depending upon the type of donor incision and the laxity of your scalp. We ask you to return to the office for a one week follow-up visit, but for those who live overseas or far away from Reviva Clinic, the follow up consultation can be done by phone or skype or by email and photos.

What To Expect After Your Hair Transplant Surgery

If the post-operative instructions are followed carefully, in most patients, the transplant is minimally detectable after a few days and almost undetectable after the first week to ten days. Patients are given medication for swelling at the time of surgery, but some still experience swelling of the forehead that settles across the bridge of the nose and around the eyes. If this occurs, it is almost always gone by the end of the first week.

The newly transplanted hair begins to grow at around 10 weeks. It is long enough to be groomed in about 6 months and, in most cases, will be fully grown in at one year. In the few months following a transplant, before the new hair starts to grow, there may be some shedding of your original hair so that the transplanted area may temporarily appear slightly thinner. This is a transient phenomenon and will be corrected when the new hair begins to grow. It should not be a cause for concern.

The table below provides a general guideline as to what to expect after having FUE procedures at Reviva Clinic. It is broken into recipient site care and donor site care. The healing process varies for every person, any questions, please contact your doctor immediately for proper guidance and advice.

POST-OP CARE

Recipient Site Care

Donor Site Care

The Day Following Surgery

Patients are instructed to wash their hair gently, but thoroughly, so that the scalp is free of any blood

Expect some soreness, and possibly some numbness. There will be some oozing in the donor area.

Days 2-3

Moderate redness may be present. Scabs present. Some swelling may appear on the forehead.

Soreness in the donor area begins to disappear. Some numbness may continue. There is generally no discomfort in the recipient area.

Days 4-6

If there is significant swelling, it may settle across the bridge of the nose and around the eyes and cheeks.

In the donor area only, any residual crusting can be removed with directly running shower water.

End of Week 1

Swelling usually has subsided. Redness is faint or absent. The hair transplants look and feel like a week-old beard. Patients are seen in follow-up.

Soreness is generally gone. With FUE, the donor area is usually healed.

Day 10

Grafts are firmly in place. Any residual crusting may be gently scrubbed off.

End of Week 2

The grafts are permanently in place and cannot be dislodged. The transplanted hair begins to be shed. Patients may return to normal shampooing, brushing and combing and may get haircuts.

Numbness is uncommon

End of Week 3

The majority of the transplanted hair has been shed.

End of Month 1

The follicles enter a resting phase. You will look very much like you did before the procedure. Patients may dye their hair.

Months 2-5

The newly transplanted hair starts to grow, initially as very fine hair. Some or all of the original hair that was shed begins to grow back.

Months 6-9

Hair is groomable, but it continues to grow and thicken. Slight textural changes in hair are occasionally present.

Month 9

Patients are seen in follow-up. If a second session is considered, it will be discussed.

1 Year

The final appearance of the hair transplants can begin to be appreciated.

2 Years

There may be additional fullness. Any textural change in hair usually returns to normal.